The Nautical Almanac # 26 --- Regulus, the Young King

 

Regulus (also known as Alpha Leonis, "The Heart of the Lion," Cor Leonis, Qalb al-Asad, "The Young King" and "The Prince") is the brightest star in the constellation of Leo The Lion, one of the 12 Zodiacal constellations. Regulus is actually a twin binary system in which two mutually orbiting pairs of stars orbit each other. Regulus is one of the closest star systems to the Earth, being only 78 light years away.

 

Three of the stars in the Regulus system appear to be relatively dim Main Sequence stars, but one, Alpha Leonis Alpha, is a blue-white giant, a Main Sequence star of the First Magnitude. Alpha Leonis Alpha has four times the mass, three times the radius, and 290 times the luminosity of our Sun. Alpha Leonis Alpha is one billion years old, and burns at 22,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It rotates on its axis once every sixteen hours which causes it to be somewhat misshapen, oblate, and flatter at its poles than at its equator. 

Regulus is the only star that lies directly along the ecliptic (the apparent path of the Sun and planets in the sky) and this fortuitous location has meant that astrologers ancient and modern often treat Regulus as a "planet" for astrological purposes. It often aspects the other planets, is sometimes occulted by them (especially the Sun and the Moon), and has its own associated rulerships. 

 

Leo The Lion has always been associated with royalty and rulership (at best judicious leadership, and at worst vainglory). Leo is among the most ancient constellations and was known to all ancient cultures as "The Lion" as much as 6000 years ago. The Mesopotamians called Leo "Argulha," the Indians "Simha," and the Hebrews "Arye." The Greeks considered Leo to be the indestructible Nemean Lion, killed by Hercules as one of his labors. 

Astrologically, Regulus has most of the characteristics of its constellation, Leo, both good and bad. It rules the stone garnet and the fruit pomegranate. When it aspects a person's Ascendant or the Ruling Planet of a Sun Sign, Regulus confers magnanimity, reasoned and just rule, and great authority and power, but portends a disastrous and violent fall from grace, and a bloody end, if one's powers are used for personal aggrandizement, vindictiveness, pettiness, or vengeance. Hermes Trismegistus of the Hermetic School, states that a well-aspected Regulus "takes away anger and melancholy, makes men temperate, and grants favor." 

Regulus is one of the fifteen astrological Behenian Stars; it is the first and most dynamic of the "Royal Stars" of Persia (the others are Aldebaran, Fomalhaut, and Antares), called "The Guardian of the Southern Gate" or "The Watcher of the South"; and it is the 26th star of the Nautical Almanac.